A New Ending
by Pheek
Summary: Post AU PP. "When I pictured the end...it never went like this. More of a long struggle, some banter, maybe some soda and chips..."
1. Chapter 1: Phantom Planet: My Way

**Okay, in this story, Maddie and Jack thought that they had Danny when they were spreading the cables, and then the new Tuck Bot disappeared. They realize this when the Op Center jet comes crashing through. That is also where this story starts. Also, Tucker is not the mayor of Amity Park, the old mayor, whose name is eluding me right now, has been reinstated as the mayor. Also, Sam and Danny are not dating. They never had that close scene in Phantom Planet. Probably like all the other SamxDanny fans out there, I was jumping for joy when they finally got together, but, for the sake of this story, they are not dating. But, keep hope, I am a stickler for that pairing and WON'T write about any other pairing, possibly Danny bonding with Valerie, though. But, and I repeat, I WILL NEVER WRITE ABOUT ANY OTHER PAIRING BESIDES SAMXDANNY. You have my word.**

**Anyways, you are probably all pretty mad at me for starting another story, but, I promise I will do my best at updating soon. I have a half day on Friday with the house to myself, so, you can be sure to see updating at least two maybe three of my stories.**

**DISCLAIMER: You Fruit Loops! You really think I own to Danny Phantom! Well, here's a wake-up call, I don't!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Phantom Planet's Ending- My Way<strong>

**Maddie's POV**

"Jack! Where's Danny?" I demanded. Jazz turned the other way; not speaking.

"Look!" someone exclaimed, "It's Danny Phantom!" With that, the whole crowd began shouting out for joy when Phantom flew through the Ghost Portal followed by about a million ghosts. With that, everybody forgot their previous problems, including myself and Jack and got to work. In the back of my head, I could hear my nagging, motherly conscious asking me where my son was.

Then, the whole world went quiet. There wasn't a single sound. And, then we were all struck with awe when the asteroid passed through the North Pole. The next thing I knew, we were all running down to congratulate Phantom on saving the world, but, my main objective, was finding Danny. I knew that if I was able to find Jazz or Tucker or Sam, I would find my son. In a matter of minutes, I saw a ghost that I had come to know as Skulker say something to Phantom that made him smile. That ghost's attitude will boggle my mind forever. One moment Phantom can be all serious and the next he has a careless average teenager attitude about him.

After ripping my eyes off Phantom, I saw that the three kids I was looking for were around him. I pushed through the crowd, and pleaded to them, "Have you kids seen Danny?" They all stared at each other, including Phantom.

I don't know how they did it, but they must have communicated with each other, because after about fifteen seconds, I caught Phantom slightly shaking his head, and the others nodded. Then, Sam said, "I think he was in the back of the crowd. He probably got pushed out of the way when we all came down. He's most likely just coming down from the tower with the rest of the stragglers. You know Danny, he likes to take his time with things."

I nodded at them and began to make my way through the crowd and toward the tower. I saw Jack just a few steps behind me, but I quickly warded him off. I didn't want to lose Jazz, too. He obliged, understanding, and walked back through the crowds. I briefly heard Phantom saying a good bye for now' and then saw a glimpse of him flying through the portal. But, I really didn't care about this at the moment, because I wanted to find my son.

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><p><strong>Danny's POV<strong>

I told everybody good bye and claimed to be leaving for the Ghost Zone and then to the Amity. But, little did everybody else know, I really came back through the portal invisibly. From there, I followed Sam's lie and went into the tower. I made sure to stay invisible until I reached a bathroom and changed back into Fenton. I quickly walked out and made my way toward the staircase. When I was only about three flights down, when I saw my mom walking up the steps. At seeing me, she ran up to me, and wrapped me in a deep hug. It was obvious to me that they had not made the connection between me and my ghost half. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because my secret was still intact, but bad because, today, I finally realized that I'm not afraid of them anymore. Not that I'm afraid of them, it's more of the unknown, if you will.

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><p><strong>Maddie's POV<strong>

When I saw my son walking down those steps, my heart jumped out of my chest at the now known fact that my baby boy was okay. I ran to him, embraced him, and began to stroke his hair. A tear then fell from my eye. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?" I said, "Please,_ please_, don't ever do anything like that again. God, Danny, for all the times for you to disappear, that was probably the worst. Promise me that you'll never do that again." I felt him nod, and then I held tighter.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I was kept from leaving cause of all the people rushing out," he apologized sincerely. I embraced him for another thirty seconds, and then I let go, and we both began walking down the steps in silence.

"Finally, we're home!" my son exclaimed, immediately plopping on the couch. It didn't make sense, why was the boy so tired? He did the least work of all. The only reason he even came along, was because Jack and I were needed, and we could bring our family. But, he didn't even do anything, and, despite the fact that he fell asleep on the ten hour plane ride, he still looked like he could drop over dead with exhaustion. Finally, Jack vocalized what I had been contemplating:

"Why are you so tired, Danny-boy?"

Danny looked petrified as soon as the question was asked, but, at least from what it looked like, Jazz swooped in with an excuse. She said, "Umm, you have to remember, Dad, Danny's a fourteen year old boy who was just thrown out of his regular sleep cycle. Actually, we all are kind of tired. At least, I am. So, despite the fact it's noon, I'm going to bed."

"Yeah," Danny said, "Good night-I mean day-er whatever. See ya." With that, he walked up the stairs.

I just stared as my kids trucked up the stairs to apparently 'go to bed'. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Danny might have even have whispered a thank you to Jazz as they walked upstairs, but I must have been hearing things. Right?

Though Jazz's story made sense and it was perfectly logical, I was having my doubts. I mean, what could he have possibly been doing in the time we had been at the Pole? I know that he was with us when we were spreading the cables, but after that, now that I think about it, he just sort of disappeared. Where the heck did he go? Unless… No, he couldn't have been with Phantom, because Phantom left before we got back from spreading the wires. Unless Danny was never with us when spreading the wires. I know that Jack, despite how sad this is, has thought Danny was with him, but really it was a sack or something. I decided to question this, and I turned to my husband saying, "Jack, are you sure Danny was with you when you were spreading the wires?"

He looked at me quizzically and then said, "Of course! We even talked a bit."

"What did he say?"

My husband looked at me with a strange glance. Then he said, "Well, um, I said something 'Isn't this great father-son bonding?' then, he said, 'That comment does not compute,' or something. After that I commented on how his voice is changing, and then I think I rambled on a bit about ghosts and Phantom's plan. He just nodded and agreed after that. Why?"

I nodded at my husband, I know that he asked a question, but, I needed to think for a second. That was really strange. Danny's voice was changing, at least not yet anyways, despite a few cracks here and there, but still. And it was fishy that he really didn't say anything else, granted, Jack might have been forgetting something, but still. Jack must have been getting pretty fishy of me, because, after that, he said, "Maddie, what are you thinking?"

"Well, we know that our kids were friends with Phantom now, but what if Danny had been with Phantom in the Ghost Zone? That would explain why he is so tired!" I exclaimed.

"But, Maddie, Phantom crashed the Fenton Op Center Jet when he came back. And when he flew back through, he was followed by a bunch of ghosts. So, Danny couldn't have been with him. Unless Danny's a ghost," Jack said. The last comment was meant to be a joke, but, at the moment even the impossibility in that comment made it seem possible.

But, despite that, Jack had a point. There was no way that Danny could have survived that, and I know for a fact that he is with us now, so that being said, why is he so tired? Jazz must be right. Danny is just getting over getting kicked out of his sleep cycle. "I guess you have a point, Jack. He just has me so worried with all stunts he's been pulling lately."

"He'll be okay Maddie, trust me. He's probably just going through so teenage ag-an-"

"Angst?"

"Yes, angst, I 'm sure he'll be fine. Now, common, let's go tinker with so gadgets, I know that it helps you think," Jack said. I nodded to him and followed him downstairs. He was probably right. Danny was probably just going through a stage of his teenage life. Nothing to worry about, right?

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><p><strong>I know, kind of short, but this was just kind of my prologue to the story. I just needed to get you comfortable with the premises of this story before I got on to the rest. <strong>

** I don't know when the next chapter will be out, sorry. Maybe Friday…**

** Trivia Question:**

** For those of you who don't know how this works, please read this little blip. I will ask a Danny Phantom related trivia question in every chapter. Then, you answer it in your review. If you get it right, I will put your penname in the next chapter. Sound good? Good.**

** In which Danny Phantom episode does Danny say, "Do you want the truth, or one of those little white lies that won't hurt your feelings?"**

** I need the NAME of the episode, not a description.**

** Please review.**

**~Pheek out**


	2. Chapter 2: The Fruit Loop Strikes Again!

** Hey guys! I decided to finally get this story updated. Chapter ten of AFLR (A Fruit Loop's Reign) has been sent to my beta reader, and the next story to be updated will most likely be GB (Ghost Bug).**

** The answer to the trivia question is... Maternal Instincts! And the winners are...**

**Thunderrules**

**Oak Leaf Ninja**

**Pinklife**

**Chad's Shortstack**

**Mira Casinova**

** I also want to throw out a big thanks to all who reviewed/favorited/followed. You guys are awesome. Your reviews really make me laugh sometimes... **

** ******ATTENTION** I need help. Pinklife recently put up a pole about who is better, Gir (Invader Zim) or Cujo (Danny Phantom)? Currently, Gir is winning, and I need you guys to vote for Cujo. If you put a vote in your review, I'll tell Pinky. Thanks! Go Cujo!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom and I probably never will. **cries****

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: The Fruit Loop Strikes Again!<strong>

**Danny's POV**

"Crud," I thought as I got on the bus. I slowly walked to an empty seat in the back and ignored all the people staring at me. Today was going to suck. Why was I so pessimistic right now? Well, after the asteroid incident, my friends and sister, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, told me to lay low for a while. I, of course, was against it for more than one reason.

Jazz was made the list ingrained in my mind, some being the following:

1. No joy flying. (this helped me blow off some steam and clear my mind)

2. No 'going-ghost' unless absolutely necessary. (I had to ride the bus)

3. No using my powers for menial purposes. (Chores take a lot more time)

4. Avoid my parents, in both forms.

5. ….

The fourth one was incredibly easy. I already did that a lot, so basically; I just avoided them more than usual. Granted, the rest of the imaginary list went on and on through different details my friends made me pledge to until all this 'Danny Phantom craziness', as Tucker calls it, was over. It killed me because one of the perks of my powers was that I felt extremely free, but now I feel about as free as bird in a cage.

But, despite the negative effects, I knew they were right. If I showed my head right now, I might get mobbed, or worse, have my secret found out. That was something that I couldn't have happen. Ever. I knew right now, that based on what happened to Vlad, halfas didn't have a very big base of supporters.

Plus, right now, I was happy with where I was in my life, err, well, you know what I mean. My best friends and sister knew and accepted my secret and what I had become. Ghost hunting had gotten easier since Valerie found out about Dani, and saw that I did truly care for something. At least, that is why I think she stopped hunting me. My parents have been desperately trying to catch Phantom and talk to him-err me. No, they weren't really hunting me anymore, but now they were trying to talk to my ghost half. And that was something I was going to put all my effort in to avoid.

So, now the only real threat I have to face is Dash, which is a routine that I had put up with since like forever. Besides, Dash's fighting skills were about as good as Klemper's or the Box Ghost's.

As I looked around the bus, I saw something I rarely saw, the A-listers. They never rode the bus. Like Sam, they were rich and could be driven in a limo every day if they wanted to. Unlike Sam, they didn't have to be forced to do so.

After being ignored for most of the bus ride, we picked up Tucker. That's when I realized that the A-listers just wanted to talk to Tucker. Why was this? Do to the fact that Tucker helped lead the technology behind saving the world, they found out that he was friends with Phantom. They also found this out about Sam. It really pisses her off.

Unfortunately for them, they did not seem to realize that the reason Fenton was absent, was because he was Phantom. Which, of course, was fortunate for me. Because I still got absolutely no attention, I mean besides Dash's daily beat-ups. And even when he did, Tucker or Sam could, would, and have threaten that Phantom would beat him up. His face was priceless and then he booked it out of the hall.

"Hey dude," Tucker said, finally getting away from the popular kids.

"Hey," I said. "You do realize that these limitations are really pissing me off, right?"

He scoffed and then quipped, "Hey, you're the one following them, if you want to have your secret found out, be my guest and break the rules." I just stared blankly at him for a second and when I was about to say something, another boy did instead.

"Hey, Tucker, do you and Phantom want to come to my house tonight? There's going to be a party."

Tucker sighed and turned to answer the popular jock, "No thanks."

Tucker then turned back to me and was about to say something when Dash said, "Why not?"

"Because Phantom is too busy fighting ghosts and such, and I don't want to go to one of your parties by myself." He then turned back around to face me. That last remark would take the jocks a while to think of another response.

Or not.

"But, Tucky, I really was looking forward to seeing you and him tonight," Paulina cooed, completely interrupting what Tucker was about to say to me.

Sighing again, Tucker replied, "No thank you."

Turning back to me, I whispered to Tucker, "And I thought ghosts were annoying." Tucker snorted. At this, my ghost sense went off. "Speaking of which." Before finding a way to get off the bus and go ghost, the back tire of the bus was shot at by an ecto blast. The bus then skidded to a stop and everyone piled out of the bus in a non-orderly fashion. I quickly ran into an ally and went ghost.

I invisibly shot out the alley and reappeared in the sky above the bus and asked, "Are you all okay?" The bus driver answered me with a yes and I searched the air for the ghost.

My quest was complete when I heard a voice behind me that said, "I think you should be more worried about yourself, Daniel."

My blood ran cold as I turned around. There was only one ghost that called me that. My hypothesis proved correct when I turned around and saw Plasmius floating a few feet ahead of me. Staying strong, I said, "You aren't welcome here anymore Plasmius. Get out. Now."

"Ooo, looks like somebody isn't very into witty banter today."

"Not with you."

"Very well. I am willing to make one last deal with you Daniel."

"Never. I don't care what you have to offer."

Vlad took a deep breathe, and replied, "Fine. Then I have no choice but to tell everybody your little secret." My eyes widened at what he meant as I saw a large group of people including a bunch of high schoolers (we were right in front of Casper High), the Guys in White, a large group of town folks, and media on the ground below us. The crowd immediately began talk among themselves to what Plasmius meant. I made eye contact with Sam and Tucker who both looked as fearful and freaked out as myself.

"You wouldn't," I declared in a venomous voice.

"Oh but I would, Daniel.

"Good people of the Amity. Many of you don't know, but your beloved Danny Phantom is hiding something huge from you," Vlad began.

"Don't listen to him!" I heard Tucker yell.

"Oh but you must know that this is true more than anyone else," Vlad said calmly.

"Shut up Vlad." I snapped, shooting a blast at him. We began to battle and, from what I could tell, everybody below was watching the light show. I was about to yell to them to leave when I saw my parents drive in. _Oh shit, _I thought.

My mom spoke into the megaphone and got both Vlad and I to stop fighting, by saying, "Vlad Masters/Plasmius, you are under arrest for trying to take over our world and other crimes. Surrender now, or we shall take you by force."

"As much as that sounds like fun, I had a different reason to return to this back water city, and that was to deliver a message," he began calmly. "Like I was saying before, Danny Phantom is hiding a big secret from all of you, and it is time for you to know what it is. Phantom is really-"

I cut him off here by shooting an ecto blast at him. "Shut up Vlad." I was mad. Really really mad; I could feel the ectoplasm pumping through my veins: the extra ecto energy behind my eyes.

Vlad quickly got his bearings back and said, "Danny Phantom is a halfa!" My blood and ectoplasm ran cold. I was shocked in mid air, all my extra angry energy disappeared and was replaced by adrenaline telling me to flee. Instead of moving away, I just floated there staring at him: listening to all the gasps from the people below.

"I think that's enough havoc to last you a life time. Have fun, Daniel," Vlad said and then disappeared into the air.

Shocked at what had just happened, I just floated there as the humans below me began to squabble which effectively knocked me out of shock and back to my twisted reality. Everybody was looking at me if I was now some sort of alien. Then, throughout all the chaos, I heard a familiar voice over all the others, probably somebody with a megaphone or something asking, "Is this true, Phantom? Are you a halfa?" The whole crowd got quiet.

I was terrified. I could go up against all the ghosts in the world, but when it came to my secret and my being a halfa, I was terrified. I always feared the day that somebody might figure out me out, and knowing this "little" tidbit of information was just giving them a huge clue to figuring out my whole secret. I couldn't have that happen. People couldn't accept a halfa into society. Things were just starting to get a little easier with not all the hunters after me: this was the last thing I needed.

I could have said anything. I could have answered a simple no. I could tell them how Vlad is evil and is lying. Heck, I could blatantly lie to them and made up a story, but no. I, in my incompetence, said, "Umm, I-I, uh, no—errr," and then rushed out, "I have no idea what he's talking about!" I then quickly went invisible and intangible, and flew as far away as I could manage. This was going to be a long existence.

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><p><strong>Maddie's POV <strong>

Watching the bewildered ghost above me, I felt some pity for him. He looked terrified. I could tell that only some of us noticed this and gasped. Vlad just revealed something big that I could tell Phantom didn't want figured out.

Terror. That was something I had never seen on the ghost boy's face. I also saw uncertainty and worry beneath all the other emotions. Something that I had to accept ever since I realized Phantom wasn't evil and began to watch his antics from a distance was that he had emotions. Maybe if what Vlad said was true and Phantom really was a half ghost, that was one perk they had: emotions.

I then got an idea. Who was Phantom's human half? If what Plasmius said is true, Phantom must have a human half, so who it is? A super powered teenager could be dangerous to the other students. My kids could be friends with him and not even know it! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't even know if it is true.

Grabbing the megaphone, I asked, "Is it true, Phantom? Are you a halfa?" Everybody in the crowd got quiet. His terror increased as he replied:

"Umm, I-I, uh, no—errr," and then rushed out, "I have no idea what he's talking about!" The boy then became invisible and probably flew away to safety. That proved it. He really was a halfa! But, that being said, who was his human half?

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><p><strong>Good? Bad? Ugly? I won't know unless you review.<strong>

** Don't worry, there is going to be plenty of DannyxMaddie bonding to come, and there will be a little bit of SamxDanny. Don't worry. This is just an event that I had to put first to get to those actions. **

** The new trivia question is...**

** What is the name of the glitch in Doomed that Danny and the gang trap Technus in?**

**Remember to vote for Cujo****!**

** I have no idea when I am going to update next. **

** Please review. **

** ~Pheek out**


	3. Chapter 3: Danny's Life Sucks

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long-things are crazy, you know?**

**Updates should get fast now that I'm on summer vacation. I currently have the next chapter of An Accidental Accident sent to the beta reader, and soon I should have the next chapter of Sucked In out. Note the word should.**

**I'd like to thank all those who reviewed(commented)/favorited/followed. You guys are awesome!**

**And the answer to the trivia question is... Level Zero! And the winners are...**

**PixieDemon1029**

**darkfrost**

**ReadAndWriteButMostlyRead**

**Pinklife**

**Fly Guy**

**nycorrall**

**Good job to all who answered correctly!**

**I just want you guys to know that I am looking for a beta reader for this story. If anybody is interrested or knows somebody that might be, please PM me or put it in your review (comment).**

**I kind of think that this chapter has some OOCness, but you tell me what you think. And there is a tad of DxSness in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom! (Duh...)**

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><p><strong>A New Ending<strong>

**Chapter 3: Danny's Life Sucks**

**Danny's POV**

I came out of hiding at least seven hours after the whole incident. I sighed as I walked into Casper knowing I was going to get in trouble for being so late. _Great_ I thought when I finally saw a clock _Mr. Lancer's class._ I drudged to the door and knocked. After a few seconds Mr. Lancer opened it and let me in.

"Why are you so late, Daniel?" he asked me in front of the whole class. I saw both Sam and Tucker throw me looks of sympathy as I managed a shrug as I walked to my desk and sat down. "What am I going to do with you, Mr. Fenton?" I gave a slight shrug as a response, not really caring what he was going to do to me.

Mr. Lancer sighed, not giving me a punishment, yet, and then told me the correct page to turn to. I slowly pulled out the material as he preached the lesson to us.

Before long, I began to completely ignore everything he was saying and drifted into my thoughts. My life was over. People would be upping their hunting efforts so that they could find out who my human half is. How could I keep the town safe and protect myself against the extra hunters?

"Mr. Fenton? What is the answer to the question?" Mr. Lancer interrogated, interrupting my thoughts. I again shrugged and didn't bother to make eye contact. "Mr. Fenton, are you feeling well?"

"Yeah," I managed, "Just tired." Saying you were tired was the easiest and safest one in the book of excuses. The worse anyone could do was put you to bed, and it explained a 'sorrowful' face.

"Would you like me to repeat the question?" Lancer asked me.

"Okay," I replied, in this kind of situation, the worst thing you could do is say 'no'.

"I asked you, in _To Kill a Mocking Bird _why does Jem cry when the whole in the tree is filled in with cement?"

"I don't know, sir." I replied. Since we got that book, it was before the Disastoriod incident and my copy being destroyed by Skulker before I even got the chance to attempt to read it.

"Very well," the teacher replied, and everybody else—except Sam, Tucker, and Valerie—began to snicker at me. Just goes to show who your friends are. He then continued on with the lesson and asked a smart blond girl in the back who gave him an answer. Satisfied, he moved on.

I spent the rest of class this way, just thinking. Finally the saving bell rang for the end of the day, and just as I was about to make my escape, Lancer asked, "Daniel, come here please."

Taking a deep breathe, I walked back over to the over weight teacher's desk. "Mr. Fenton, you seemed to be paying less attention than normal. Is there something wrong?"

"No, sir, I'm fine. Just tired is all," I replied, this time bothering to make eye contact.

"Are you sure?" he asked and I nodded. "Very well, just run along then. But due to your tardiness, I am going to have give you detention Wednesday, okay?" With a quick nod, I began to speed off to the exit where I would meet up with Sam and Tucker.

I was almost home free when a voice screamed, "Hey Fenturd!" Sighing, I turned around and saw Dash and all the other A-listers.

"I'm not in the mood, Dash. Can you just leave me alone just this once?" I pleaded. True, I could beat him to a pulp and more, but I was supposed to be the good guy and that was something that I don't think I could live with myself for doing.

"Not today, Fentina," Dash growled a total of a foot away from me.

"What do you think Sam and Tucker would tell Phantom if you beat me up? Heck, now that we know he's a halfa, he could be anybody," I pointed out. I don't think I could hold myself back if he really did come at me today. Like I said, I'd never purposely hurt a human, but I might give him a good verbal beating or simply doge his attacks.

He seemed to think about this for a second. "Well, he's not you, and I'm pretty sure even if he was one of the people here they would know that you deserve it."

"But Phantom's a super hero. He wouldn't want anybody to get hurt—regardless of popularity status. And what did I possibly do to deserve to getting beat up?" I shot back.

Dash stared at me for a second and then remarked, completely ignoring my ending question, "I happened to have helped Phantom myself once, and he didn't seem like the kind of guy that would beat me or any of my other friends up for taking a loser down."

_Yeah, I would: I might not beat you up, but I'd totally give you a what-for. _Instead I shrugged and replied, "You obviously don't know him as well as you thought you did, because from what Sam and Tuck have told me, he is a pretty nice guy. Shy even."

I let this sit for a second. Dash gritted his teeth and then stormed away, followed by the other A-listers. Just when I thought I was free range to leave, Dash turned back around, charged up to me again and then, taking a big draw back, threw a punch at me. Tired of this, I swiftly dodged it and began walking away, leaving them all to think about what just happened.

I found Sam and Tucker sitting by our regular tree where we meet up almost every day and Sam quickly questioned as I sat down next them, "Where have you been, Danny?"

I shrugged, still not in a good mood despite my recent victory. "Ran into a little trouble," I murmured.

"Ghostly or bullies?" Tucker asked.

"Bullies, let's just say that I taught Dash a little lesson," I smirked, but quickly went back to a scowl. They both looked at me as if I'd just killed somebody. "Relax! I didn't use any of my powers on him," I defended, "I just used words and then some ghostly reflexes to dodge the punch he threw at me." I rushed through the last half of that sentence.

"Damn it, Fenton!" Sam exploded, "I know you got a lot going on right now, but you have to lay low!" She then went down to an irritated whisper, "You can't use your powers to get out of being bullied! Do you want people to find out your secret?"

I gritted my teeth. Even though she was pissed at me, I knew she was just worried about me, and, as much as I hated to admit it, she had a point. I already had enough problems: the last thing I needed was people wondering why shrimpy, uncoordinated Fenton actually had skills. That plus the Phantom being halfa craziness going on could kill me. I sighed, knowing I had lost the argument, "I guess your right, Sam. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm just tired of getting beat up by the people I work so hard to protect."

I buried my head in my hand and asked in a helpless tone, "What am I going to do?"

I heard Sam sigh and reply, "Well, good news is that you didn't throw a punch back or have your eyes glow. I think they'll just think that you got lucky."

Looking through my hands, I saw Tuck continue, "And for you problems as Phantom, well, at least people don't know who your human half is, and it's not like people will suspect you." I was about to interrupt, but he put a finger up and continued, "Sam has a point, your act of shrimpieness for the past two years wasn't wasted. And you are just going to have to try to lay lower."

"But how am I supposed to lay lower when everybody is expecting me to protect this town and people are attacking me in both forms! I mean, you guys know as well as I know that there are going to be even more ghost hunters now. This sucks," I remarked, looking down at the ground in defeat.

"That's your life," Tucker remarked and Sam and I both threw him evil looks that said _Not now_.

I was about to complain some more when I heard a boy scream in anger, "FENTON!" Cursing under my breathe, I turned around, stood up, and saw the jock running at me, followed by the popular crowd.

"Well, we obviously know that he doesn't know your secret," Tucker murmured only loud enough for Sam and I to hear it.

He had a point for once. It means that they were right and that the A-listers simply considered me lucky. Regardless, I really didn't want to have to face him again. I don't think I could not slash back at this point.

"Guys, I don't think I'm going to be able to stay calm again. Let's get out of here before this gets ugly," I told them. They both complied and we began walking away. We all heard Dash yelling angrily after us, and I cued them both to run. We got around the corner, and I pulled the three of us into an ally. Making sure we were far enough in and nobody was around, I turned us invisible.

My friends, as usual, looked themselves over whenever I used this kind of power on them for so long. I knew the sensation well and loved it all the same, but for them in was alien. Getting over it, they both followed my gaze to keep a look out for the rest of the school.

After a few seconds, the group of teens came running by looking for us. "Good call, Danny," Sam whispered to me as I brought us back to the visible realm.

I nodded to her in reply. I knew that she wasn't referring to my invisibility act; she was referring to my walking away. "Let's go to my house," I suggested, "With all the Phantom craziness, I know for a fact my parents won't be home."

I was about to go ghost—so far into the process that a blue ring had already formed around my waist—when Tucker suggested, "Speaking of 'Phantom craziness' maybe we should just walk." Sighing, I let the ring dissipate. I know they are right, but it's so hard not to do something that you've been doing for a few years. Plus I knew that flying would help me blow off steam and it frankly seemed silly not to fly.

Regardless, we all walked out of the alley and when we were only a block or two away from my place I heard something like a large group of people coming from behind us. Along with the ghost-half came better senses, and, trusting them, I swiftly stopped and turned around to see what it was. Turning around, I saw Dash just coming around the next bend and the group of A-listers right behind him.

"Crap," I mumbled, and I saw my friends do the same. We turned back the way we were going and kept moving. I couldn't stop myself from hearing the other teens gaining on us. "I wanted to fly, but you guys just had to stop me..." I murmured. They both shot me evil looks. "Oh come on, you know I'm kidding!" They both scoffed and we all kept moving away from the large crowd.

We were a block from the sanctuary of my home when they caught up to us. "Fenturd, I dare you to run again, I dare you," Dash told me when they finally caught up to show his presence.

In a race, if I used my ghost powers, I could probably beat him. But I couldn't do that here, not now. It was out of the question. The popular crowd created a circle around my friends and I. I was defenseless. I can't counter attack or defend myself or I'd give them a clue as to my secret identity.

"Dash, can't you just leave me alone? If you can't tell, I'm not having the best day today. So what do you say?" I tried persuading him. Persuasion, was that all I had now? Was I really that helpless that I had to look for help from words?

"I don't think so Fent-er-tainment Tonight," he countered.

"If you do anything, we'll tell Phantom," Sam pointed out.

"And what is he going to do? He doesn't hurt humans?" a kid in the crowed quipped.

Dash gave us a raised eyebrow in response, "There's nothing you can do, Fentina,"

Sighing, I said nothing at all. All my defenses that I could use on a human like him were gone, so I just stood there and eventually spoke, "Okay." Everybody else around me looked at me wide-eyed, and I heard Sam and Tuck both breathe sighs of relief.

"Okay? Okay!" Dash exclaimed in anger and bafflement, "What do you mean okay?"

"I mean okay," I replied calmly, "You obviously aren't going to come to reason and not beat me up. Plus you don't think Phantom will come and beat you up, so feel free. Do your worst."

He looked at me with pure befuddlement: his mouth opened and closed like a fish—it was one of the funniest thing I have ever seen. He had no response. He didn't know what to tell me because I had chosen to take the high road.

But, I guess for whatever reason, my karma isn't good and instead of responding, he pulled back his arm ready to hit me in the jaw. Call it reflexes, my jaw instinctively went intangible. I heard Sam and Tucker gasp, knowing what I had done, and everybody else stared at Dash in dismay, thinking that he had just missed when he really went right through.

Dash growled at me; his eyes filled with anger. He ran at me and grabbed my shirt collar. Feigning fear, I looked down at him with terror filled eyes. Holding me up with one arm, the large boy in front of me pulled back his other arm and this time his punch made a connection with my left cheek.

Two years ago, that would have hurt, and I'd probably have reflexively screamed. Now, I had to will myself not to go intangible again, and pretend to scream in pain. The large boy then threw me to the ground, none the wiser about my pain being an act.

Dash then walked up to me, grabbed me by my shirt collar again, and growled, "Take that as a warning Fenturd. I am number one around here, you are the loser, that is the way it has and always will work." He then threw me to the ground and then walked away, followed by his cult.

It took all my self-control to not shoot an ecto-blast and run after him. Instead, I forced myself to land in a laying position and act hurt. I heard my friends yelling threats to him about how Phantom was going to haunt him, but the jock quickly waved off them off and kept walking with the popular kids following right behind him. I could tell my eyes had flared green by the intense cold and the fact that Sam quickly stood in front of me.

I made myself slowly sit up once they rounded the corner; my eyes still flared bright green. "Guys, I think it's time Danny Phantom taught him a lesson," I growled. I was pissed. I've had enough of this. How could they be so oblivious to the fact that I was Phantom? Wasn't it obvious?

Upon my saying that, my friends both did a double take between me and each other. "Danny," Sam began to dissuade.

"Save it, Sam. I'm tired of being picked on in both forms by both ghosts and humans! It's ridiculous! I have the power to change things, and yet I do nothing!" I fumed.

"'Cause your the good guy, dude!" Tucker protested, "And your not the kind person who would take out your anger on Dash!"

Not listening to them, I used some of my ghostly strength to get out of their grasps. They both gasped as I began to walk after the popular group. "Danny does that really seem right?" I heard Sam yell to me, "Your not yourself right now! The Danny I know doesn't use his pow-abilities on other humans!"

Her dissuasion made me stop dead in my tracks. I felt my eyes go back to their normal blue, and sighed and turned to them. My anger flooded down to guilt at was I was about to do. "What's wrong with me?" I questioned them.

"You're under a lot of stress, and this was kind of like the last straw," Sam reassured, coming closer to me and grabbing my hands, "There's nothing wrong with you, Danny, you're just stressed." Tucker put in his usual, yeah dude, and we all began walking back in the direction of my house.

Our whole walk back I knew subconsciously that Sam and I were holding hands, but I kept myself from saying anything because I knew that she would probably pull away. Her hand in mine helped me to calm down a lot. But our hand holding didn't really become truly apparent until Tucker scoffed at my front door. We both quickly let go and I felt my cheeks go red.

We were about to step through the threshold when Jazz jumped through the door and stopped our entrance. "Jazz, what's wrong?" I inquired being that she had an intense look of alarm on her face.

"Danny!" she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. "Thank goodness! I thought you were a goner!"

"What! Why?" I exclaimed still hugging her but pulling away far enough so that I could see her face.

"After what I saw what happened this morning, I thought you weren't coming home again!" she told me, pulling me back into a hug as she spoke.

We finally pulled apart, and as I was about to walk through the door, Jazz stepped in front of me. "Don't go in there, Danny. Mom and Dad have the place booby-trapped." I sent her a look of alarm. "They don't suspect you, yet, but with all the craziness going on, the last thing we need is for you to set off one of there ghost alarms."

"Then how do I get inside?" I questioned.

"I don't know," Jazz admitted, "But with Mom and Dad possibly coming home at any second, this is probably the worst place for you to be right now."

"Where is he supposed to go then?" I heard Sam ask, looking relatively worried.

"He could stay at my house for the night," Tucker suggested with an open mind look.

"Okay, that'll take care of tonight," Jazz observed.

"Thanks, Tuck," I told him and received a nod from him, "But I have to be able to get in the house, what if a ghost attacks and I need to equipment or to put him in the ghost portal?"

My friends and sister all looked about ready to reply when my ghost sense went off. "I guess we're going to find out really fast, huh?" I then began, pulling out a Fenton Thermos and then beginning to run for an alley to switch to my other form.

"Wait!" Sam protested as soon as I began running. I stopped my charge and turned back around to look at her. "What if it's a trap?"

"Well, that's just a risk that I'm going to have to take," I remarked, throwing her a quick smile and a wink. I was tired of hiding and frankly looking forward to going ghost and kicking somebody's butt.

I swiftly went ghost and sped off to fight the ghost without listening to any of their other objections.

**Sam's POV**

Throwing me a quick smirk and wink the halfa I had come to love zoomed into the alley and the next thing I knew I saw him speeding off in the sky in ghost mode. Little did anyone know, but I quilently murmured to myself and silently to Danny, "Please stay safe."

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><p><strong>How did you like it? I won't know unless you review (comment)!<strong>

**And this issues trivia question is...In which episode does Danny delete Doomed?**

**I need a name, not a descreption.**

**Like usual, I don't know when I will have the next chapter up, sorry.**

**Please review (comment).**

**~Pheek**


	4. Chapter 4: The Truth Behind Strength

**Hey guys! Pheek is back and newly inspired with this story! This is by far the longest update I've ever done for this story! I hope that makes up for the lateness!**

**Getting down to business, I'd like to thank all who review/favorited/followed. You guys are awesome!**

**I'd also like to thank my awesome beta reader and one of my besties, Pinklife, for beta reading this! **

**And the answer to the trivia question is... Identity Crisis!**

**The winners are...**

**Ulimo**

**Guest**

**Darkfrost**

**blackjay48**

**SamxDanny**

**PixieDemon1029**

**Guest**

**Pinklife**

**Gammija**

**Great job to all!**

**Just so you guys know, this chapter has a bit of angst and some romance at the end. Just wanted to warn you... (I swear that angst haunts me like a plague and comes out at the strangest of times...You guys finally get to experience it.)**

**Also, blackjay48 asked me if I could put something about how Vlad got to Earth so quickly and if there are ghost hunters going after him. This got me thinking, and I am going to be putting some stuff about that in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom! Seriously, do I look like a middle-aged man? No. I look like a geeky teenage girl.**

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><p><strong>A New Ending<strong>

**Chapter 4: The Truth Behind Strength**

**Danny's POV**

_I swiftlywent ghost and sped off to fight the ghost without listening to any of their objections._

The wind pushed up against my face in a welcoming fashion as I flew off at top speeds to the ghost in question. Words could not describe how good it felt to finally feel free again. I knew that I owed it to my friends and sister to disappear as soon as I whipped that sorry ghost's butt, but for the moment, my world seemed to go back to 'normal'.

I knew that when I finally did meet up with my friends again, they were going to be mad at me for what I did but, at the moment, it was all worth it. They didn't and wouldn't ever understand how amazing it felt to have ectoplasm course through your veins. To feel the raw power go through your body, make your senses heighten, and the confidence that followed it. It was a feeling that I hadn't experienced lately and felt so good to get back.

About a hundred yards from where my friends and I were, I met up with two low-level ecto-pusses. Smirking, I threw ecto-blasts at both of them and quickly sucked them up in my thermos.

As I was capping my thermos, I didn't even see it coming. An ecto-net collapsed around me and fastened to itself around me. I let a smile grace my features at the normalcy of this situation as I easily phased out of the net. Turning to my captors, I saw the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle (GAV) and my parents climb out weaponless. Just as I was about to turn away and make my 'escape', my mom yelled, "Wait, Phantom! We just want to talk to you!"

I stopped and turned to them, forcing myself to act civilized, I landed on the ground about five yards in front of them. "No thanks! I want to keep my secret to myself, thank you!" Okay, maybe I wasn't that civilized, but at least I responded and landed—that had to count for something.

"Please! We want to help you! We could be allies!" my mom tried to persuade.

"I'm sorry, no," I told the woman with sincerity.

"Look, Phantom," my mom began as I turned around ready to leave. Her voice forced me to a halt. "We are sorry for what we've done to you for the past couple years. We didn't understand, and now we want to try to."

"I can't let you understand, I'm sorry. Not you two, your ghost hunters, I'm a halfa, doesn't that still bother you?" They were silent. "I know that it does, and you don't want to know who I am. It'd make things harder than they already are."

Just as I was about to take off, my dad said something that surprised me, "Let us help you." After being his son for sixteen years, almost seventeen years, I knew that this kind of thoughtful thing was something that my dad really meant. When he took the effort to say something like this, you knew to listen.

A pang of guilt struck me, as I forced myself to say, "Jack, Maddie, now is not the time for you to find out the truth. I'll tell you when I'm ready. Until then, I can't tell you."

"Why?" Maddie questioned desperately.

"It's really complicated. I'm sorry," I answered them. My heart was stinging as I turned my back on them, on my parents, and flew away, making sure to take up invisibility so that they couldn't see me.

Even though I knew that my parents shouldn't know, I couldn't help but feel bad. From the expressions on their faces—especially my dad's—it took a lot for them to do that. If my parents had one weakness, it was their social skills. My mom was okay on most occasions, but it was obvious that she preferred to be behind the scenes, and my dad could never manage to say the right thing. And when it came to ghosts, all you got from them was aggression coated with an undieing curiosity.

Another thing they didn't do well with was being contradicted—which was probably the reason that they didn't believe anybody who said ghosts didn't exist for so many years. It was also the reason that I knew Phantom being a halfa got to them so much. All their lives, they had believed that ghosts were ghosts and humans were human, now they were being contradicted. I don't even want to know what would happen if they found out that their son was Phantom.

Why the heck does my life have to be so screwed up? I do my best to do the right thing, and all I do is get dumped on. Maybe one day, I can escape this nightmare of a life, and start anew. But I knew that this could never be full filled: a care free life was impossible for me. I'd always have to worry about ghosts, objection, and my guilt. I knew that I'd always be dumped on by somebody, whether Dash or a hunter, the hatred for me would never stop.

Sighing, I invisibly touched down in an alley a few blocks away from Tucker's house and went human. Pulling out my cell phone, I called Tucker. "Danny! What the heck dude!? Why did you do that?!"

"Tucker!" The boy kept talking. "TUCKER!" I yelled into the phone again, finally silencing the boy. I heard Sam's muffled yells on the line telling me that she was going to kill me the rest of the way the moment she got her hands on me. "You guys at your house right?"

"Yeah," I could tell that he would still be yelling at me if I hadn't stopped him.

"I'll be there in a minute," I told him.

"You better not fly!" he directed me as the 'ring of power' formed around my waist.

Sighing, I told him, "Fine. I'll be there in two minutes."

Just as I was about to hang up, Tucker informed me, "By the way, Sam is here, too."

"I gathered that," I deadpanned, hanging up.

Walking, I made it to Tucker's in about two minutes. Before I even rang the doorbell, Sam jumped out and pulled me into a hug whispering to me, "Don't you ever do anything like that again."

My best friends then grabbed my shirt and pulled me inside. In a second flat, the Foley's knew I was there and we were up in Tucker's room. "What the heck were you thinking!?" Sam exclaimed, and then Sam began laying into me with things like, "Are you stupid?!", "You could have been captured!", and, the one I actually found a little humorous, "You could have been killed!—the rest of the way!"

Tucker, who was wide-eyed like me for the entire thing simply added, "Yeah, dude, you had us really worried."

I looked up at my friends with sorry eyes, "Look, I'm sorry. It was just two low-level ecto-pusses..." I then mumbled the part about my parents.

"What was that?" Sam asked me, her big amethyst eyes looking at me quizzically, "What exactly happened?"

"Okay, here's what happened." I then relayed the whole thing to them—including my parents this time. They both looked at me as if I were going to drop dead. "What?" I threw them both questioning glances.

"Are you mad!? You actually talked to them?!" Sam yelled with an exasperated expression.

"I couldn't just act like they weren't there. If they ever do find out then at least they'll be on good terms with Phantom, err, me," I answered. What was wrong with what I said? I didn't piss them off or give them any idea as to who I was. What did I do wrong?

As Sam clenched her forehead, Tucker told me, "Dude, why say anything at all? What if you said something that led them to your secret?"

Sighing, I caught their drift, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I was being stupid, and I'll do better to lay lower. I promise." They both looked at me with sincerity.

"You better, Fenton," Sam began shaking her head with a smirk, "Or I swear I'll kill you the rest of the way."

"And I'll help," Tucker put in, raising a finger.

We all smirked at each other for a second, until my phone sprung to life with a guitar solo telling me that I had a text.

Glancing at the caller ID, I noticed that it was Jazz.

DANNY IF U R OKAY, PLEASE TEXT ME BACK, & WATCH THE NEWS.

Showing my friends the message, I texted back:

IM FINE—HAD A RUN IN WITH MOM & DAD. DONT WORRY EVERYTHING IS FINE. I'LL TELL YA L8ER. Y WATCH THE NEWS?

In about three seconds there was a response.

GLAD 2 HEAR. JUST DO IT.

Sighing I replied:

K.

Looking over at Tucker, he pulled out his PDA, and turned on the news. The newscaster, Tiffany Snow, came on-screen and began in her nasally voice, "Hi, I'm Tiffany Snow, and this is news at five on channel five. The biggest story at the moment is the new information we got about Phantom this morning. Here is the footage from this morning's incident."

I sat through the embarrassing twenty minutes of footage, ending in my stupid response that I was still kicking myself for. The screen then turned back to Tiffany, who announced, "The ghost boy hasn't been seen since then, but the ghost authorities would like anybody who does to contact them at the number on the bottom of the screen so that they can catch the halfa, find out who he is, and take care of him. And, if Danny Phantom is watching this, we would like to ask him to bring himself in. We are not looking to hurt you, we are simply looking to understand." She paused and then continued on with the newscast as Tucker shut his PDA off.

"Well, at least my parents didn't tell anybody they saw me," I pointed out, feigning happiness. This whole thing was a mess. If I'd have just shut Plasmius up this never would have happened. Regardless of my feign and their previous moods, Sam and Tucker both let out a distant 'yeah'. "I'm just going to have to try harder to avoid everybody."

Getting the same response from them along with a silence, I asked Tucker, "I can still crash here tonight, right?"

Jumping out of his reverie, Tucker responded, "Let me ask my mom. Be right back." The geek then left the room, leaving Sam and I alone.

"I'm doomed aren't I?" I asked her.

She looked up at me with a small smile, "No, you'll be fine. You just have to lay a little lower."

"If I lay any lower, I'll practically be laying in my own grave!" I quipped. She gave me blank expression, and I replied more seriously, "Yeah, I guess. I just hope my parents aren't getting suspicious of me. Especially since they didn't tell anybody that they saw me," I explained. I didn't really realize that I was worried about that until I said it, but the words seemed to take the form of worry.

"I think you'll be okay. Your parents do like to get credit for their discoveries, we both know that. I'm pretty sure that they don't know your secret, Danny," the Goth told me, putting a hand on my shoulder with a comforting smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I responded with an uneasy smile.

She must have sensed my uneasy because she was about to say something else when Tucker rushed through the door frantically babbling, "WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM!" He told us this exact phrase about ten times until finally elaborating, "You can't stay here. My parents are saying that since they know that we—meaning Sam and I—know Phantom...err...you, the authorities are going to come talk to us in the morning! You're not going to be safe at either of our houses! What are we going to do!?"

I stared him wide-eyed and did a double take with Sam. This isn't happening. It was fine for me to be put through stress, but my friends shouldn't have to suffer for me. "They're probably going to question Jazz, too, so that means that your house isn't an option either," Sam mused with frustration as she collapsed on the bed.

That's right! My own sister isn't going to get out of punishment. Guilt began flooding into my mind. I can't believe I was doing this to them. They all hated the spot light, and now they were being put directly into it—all because of me! Groaning, I fell on the bed in a similar fashion. "I'm sorry guys," I apologized, sitting up, "This is all my fault. You guys wouldn't have to go through any of this if it weren't for me, and—"

"Now is not the time for apologies Danny!" Sam scolded, "We have a problem we have to figure out!" The Goth took a deep breath, and asked Tucker, "Are you sure that it's just the three of us and not Danny?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. They have no reason to suspect him. Well, at least for being a friend of himself," the boy responded.

"Okay," Sam replied with a deep breath, and, I wouldn't have caught it without my enhanced hearing, but I heard her curse Vlad. "The problem right now is finding a place for you to sleep without your parents suspecting anything, and the problem in the morning will be the authorities," the girl mused.

"Right," Tucker and I answered, and I continued, "I guess I'm going to have to go home."

"How are you going to do that? Jazz said that the place was booby-trapped," Tucker pointed out.

"Not only will you have to worry about that, but the minute the authorities come in to talk to Jazz, they're bound to run into you," Sam pointed out.

"Crap," I whispered. This was a nightmare. My friends and sister were going to have through 'torture' because of my secret and the whole town was way to close to finding out my secret than I had ever imagined. Finally answering him, I explained, "I'm just going to have to risk it, Sam. Maybe I can get to school before the authorities come to my house. More suspicion would be raised if I didn't go home. And, maybe Jazz can turn it off the ghost defenses."

"Fine. But do you really think she can do that?" Sam questioned with a bit hope.

"In theory, yes," I stated. "Any person in the family can. I'll shoot her a text." After fumbling around with my phone I finally sent a message reading:

CAN U TURN OFF THE GHOST DEFENSES?

In about three agonizing, silent minutes I got a response.

I'LL TRY. GIVE ME A SEC.

Sending back a 'K', I looked up at my friends and told them, "She's going to try. If she can, then I should be able to sleep at my house and disappear in the morning before the authorities come and the interview starts. I'll just get to school early for once, and then I'll meet up with you guys at lunch or something, and you can tell me what happened."

They both responded with an okay, and Sam pointed out, "What should we do for the interview?"

"Just refuse to tell them anything. That shouldn't be that hard, right?" I questioned.

"True," she agreed as my phone beeped to life, and we all jumped and looked at the screen.

Instead of getting a text from my sister, I got a text from my mom. We all did a double take between each other and the phone. "Please tell me that this isn't happening and that I'm a completely normal teenager with no worries other than the norm, and ghosts and halfas don't exist," I begged them in a giving up tone while closing my eyes to avoid looking at the phone.

"Sorry, dude," Tucker replied, "Can't do that."

Sighing at how much I hated my life, I read the text.

DANNY—PLEAS COME HOME EARLY 2DAY. RIGHT NOW PERFERABLY.

Sighing, I texted back:

Y?

_This day would just keep on getting worse wouldn't it? _I thought as the phone beeped again.

LOTS OF GHOST CRAZINESS. WE WANT U HOME NOW.

Groaning with frantic worry, I responded:

HOW DOES THAT AFFECT ME?

It only took about five seconds for her to text back:

NO MORE QUESTIONS, JUST COME HOME.

All I could bring myself to text back was a 'K', and I looked up with my friends in worry as I hit the send button. "I'm doomed," I groaned. I could feel my whole body shaking with fear as I looked up at them, hoping they would have the answer; hoping that they would know how to fix this.

It was then that it finally hit me that I was doomed. Everything we had done to keep my secret a secret had just gone down the drain. All precautionary measures we had gone through, all the reality changing, the alternate universes, time travel, it all went down the drain. The last couple years of hiding suddenly seemed pointless. I'd lost, and now I was going to pay for losing. I finally realized for the first time that my life was over. There's no reality change this time, no timeline difference, and no excuses. Everything that happened now was going to stick.

Nobody could be accepting of a halfa—especially after what happened with Vlad. I had always gripped on to the little piece of mind I had that told me that my parents would accept me. They had in two alternate time lines*****, so why wouldn't they now? But now that piece of mind, that hope, seemed to dwindle into nothing. For once, I felt alone. I knew that my friends and sister would always be there for me, but nobody else ever would. The world can't accept freaks like me. To regular humans, I was a threat to humanity, something that didn't deserve to live. Freaks like me belonged away from civilization where they wouldn't cause anybody pain: where they wouldn't get in the way of normality.

Even though I believed this true, knew that I couldn't just leave. I couldn't just leave my friends and sister to work through the mistakes I had made. I had to be there, because it's my fault. It's something that I had to fix, and it's time for me to act.

"You're not doomed," Sam informed me in her take charge voice. "They might not know your secret. They know that Jazz is a friend of Phantom and that we are, so how much of a stretch is it that they might think that you're friends with him, too?"

"About as much as the stretch that I am Phantom," I deadpanned in a pessimistic demeanor.

"Sam's right, Danny," Tucker added, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Don't give up hope yet. We've all put too much into this thing for _you_ to give up."

Looking up at my determined friends standing in front of me, I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful. Maybe I was just mildly doomed. It's possible. I perked up a bit, and let out a small, slightly forced smile, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

I nodded at them. "I better get going then." I was just about to say my good byes when my phone beeped again, alerting me of an incoming text from Jazz that read:

GHOST DEFENSES R DOWN. MOM PROB TXTED U. IM PRETTY SURE THEY DONT KNOW, CAUSE THEY KEEP REFERIN AS DIFFERENT PEOPLE. C U SOON. B CAREFUL.

I texted back another 'K, THANKS', and moved on to my friends. "See, what did we tell you?" Sam reassured, "If they ask you anything, just act clueless—which isn't very hard for you," I heard Tucker snicker here for some reason, and I looked at them in confusion. Getting no explanation, she continued, "and you'll be fine. Simple as that."

"Okay, and you guys do the same tomorrow morning," I told them. It was then that I was hit by another thought: this could quite possibly be my last night with my secret in tact. If my friends and Jazz weren't able to dissuade government about my ghost half, and they did end up figuring things out, then I would be on the run for the rest of my life. I couldn't just live normally anymore: I'd be hunted forever.

I guess that I always knew that my secret getting out was inevitable, but I always tried to put it the burden on future me. That's why I changed reality and time even. But this was it. When people find out my secret, they'll never accept me, and there's nothing I can do about it. My thought process was interrupted by Sam, "We'll do our best."

"I guess I should probably go now," I pointed out, looking down at my phone.

They both let out an airy yeah, and I turned toward the door. "Good-bye, guys." A sad smile formed on my lips as I said this. For some reason, it seemed as if this was the last time that I was really going to see them. That this was going to be the last good-bye. I felt a pang of sadness attack my heart, and I found myself holding back a tear.

They both gave me similar good-byes as if they felt the same way. But we couldn't give up yet. It was too early to give up hope. Then again, why hadn't we before now? All the stuff we'd been through in the past couple years, and we'd never given up. But why? That made me really have to think. Even when they died in the other reality, I never gave up. And even when Freakshow changed reality, we all still never gave up. Sam didn't give up on me when her wish came true, Jazz gave me the initiative and advice to get me through my dark future, and Tucker pulled through when he was being controlled by Hotep-Ra. There were so many occasions that we could have given up, but we never did, so why was now so different?

I guess it's because now is real. Most of our hardest adventures were in another reality or timeline that we could change. The other ones like with Undergrowth and Nocturn we were the only people around, and all they entailed was our battle tactics. Not that they were easy, but we all used skills that we already wielded.

But now, we had to avoid a truth. In the past couple years, all of us had gotten better at lying and covering up the truth. We'd done well, but now our efforts were being stomped down, and their was nothing we could do about it. The most we could do was not admit the truth, but we all saw the inevitable ending when this finished. They're was no way out of this one. We were finally in over our heads, and their was nothing we could do about it.

I gave them one last look and left the room and then the house without another word. My secret was laying on their shoulders now. If tomorrow went badly, people would know my secret. But if it did get revealed, I wouldn't blame them. This was Plasmius's fault. He knew that this would happen when he revealed my secret. I hated him. He did this to me; to my friends and sister, and he was going to pay. I don't know how yet, but he will pay.

I was only about a block away when Sam came up behind me. "Hi Danny," she greeted sadly, walking beside me.

"Hi Sam," I replied back, holding back a tear. Looking at her miserably, this girl was one of my best friends, and always will be. She's kept me sane for this long, and that was one of the reasons I felt drawn to her. I think I always will be friends with this girl, but if and when I have to run, I don't think I'll ever find out if we could be anything other than friends.

Little did anyone know, but I like her, a lot, more than friends, but I guess fate didn't want us together since it decided that I wasn't even going to get to make a move on her before my secret collapsed. I had, as of late, began to realize why I was called clueless.

"Mind if I walk with you?" she asked.

"I'll never mind," I answered her. She sent me a strange look, but a small smile graced her beautiful features.

We walked in silence until we reached her house and we both stopped. She was about to say good-bye and walk up the steps to her house, but I took her hand, before she was able. "Umm, Sam," I began awkwardly, as she walked in front of me, "I know that things are going to be insane from now on, and that my secret won't last much longer. But I've been wanting to tell you something for a while now, but I haven't known how to till now, and I guess that I still don't.

"Look, I know that you've been put through a lot of stuff because of me, and I'm not even sure if you feel the same way about me, but I may never see you again, so I just wanted to tell you that I-" My harangue was interrupted by a pair of lips on mine.

We stayed like this for a while, until she finally pulled away. "Be careful ghost boy," she told me as she walked up the steps of her house. "Just know that after everything we've done, I'd still do it all over the same way again. Just remember that. Please stay safe, Danny." She then walked through the doors of her house without another word.

I just stood there for a second and took in what happened. I kissed Sam! Sam! If my life wasn't going to end tomorrow, this would be really cool. Turning, I made my way to my house.

I guess she really did like me, and I guess that I really did like her. I made a promise to myself that I would never forget that moment. That moment when I finally made a move on a girl I'd been crushing on for most of my life and she gave them back. That moment when I finally gave into feelings I'd been oblivious to forever.

I finally let the smile that was holding in break through when I was about a block from home. Sam had been there with me for it all. Not Paulina. Not Valerie. Not any of the other girls that I had fallen for. Just Sam. I made a promise to myself and to her that if I did have to disappear, then I'd tell her before I left. Maybe I'd even steal one more kiss.

A tear finally left my eye as I stood in front of my house. Looking around, I turned intangible for a second so that all traces of it would be gone. That tear seemed to be the only thing that actually made sense all day. It was the last sign of defeat. It was the white flag that said that I couldn't take it anymore.

But it also sang out a tune that had my friends and sister in it. The people who even though they seemed to have given up, still hadn't. The people who were going to be by my side through it all. It reminded me of all the good times we've had. All the things we've overcome. It reminded me of the strength that they gave me.

And then it hit me, the strength that we had together was the reason that we had never given up. It was the reason I got through the first few months I had with my powers. It was the reason my friends and I had stayed strong through it all. Call it cheesy, but our bond, our friendship, was what gave us our strength.

Clarity was something many people took for granted, but I had finally found mine. I was filled with that unified strength again. That strength gave me a reason to fight back again and gave me something to live for. Feeling strong again, I pushed fearlessly through the door.

Because as long as I had my friends and sister, I had my strength, and I was ready for anything that would come my way from now on.

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><p><strong>*I'm counting the Masters of All Time and Reality Trip.<strong>

**Good? Bad? Ugly? I won't know unless you review.**

**Seriously, how did you guys like it? I'm trying to institute the adventure and friendship genres I put up, and trust me when I say that the next chapter is going to be legen...wait for it...dary! Legendary! True story. (I don't own HIMYM) **

**Sorry bout the angst and romance, but just sort of comes in swings and this story, along with of few of my other ones have fallen victim to that. Throughout the rest of the story, am going to try to put in more friendship and adventure aspects that I have this listed under into it. **

**Also, does anybody want Valerie in this story? I've had ideas with her, but I want to know what you guys think.**

**And finally, the thing everybody is waiting for, the trivia question. **

**What is the name of the creepy old abandoned hospital on the edge of Amity Park before the letters on the sign fell off?**

**That's all for now. I don't know when I'll update, but I'm starting school on Tuesday, so, unlike other authors, the pace might get quicker. Simply because I procrastinate with my homework and write instead. XD**

**I'll do my best to update AFLR and AHC soon.**

**Please Review.**

**~Pheek out**


	5. Chapter 5: Always Against Me

**Before I get into anything, I'd like you all to spend one prayerful moment in thought of all the victims of the super storm hitting America's east coast. Thirty-nine are already dead, and the damage so far is innumerable. Please give them a moment of your thoughts.**

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><p><strong>I'm so sorry this is so late! And I'm so sorry my other stories haven't ben updated lately! I'm going to try to update them in the next month. For those fans of AHC and AFLR, you guys can expect an update in a week or two. I'm making those two stories my priority right now! (They are even above some homework assignments.)<strong>

**In lighter news, Happy Halloween! (even though its tomorrow) I know that it's my favorite holiday! Even though I'm probably classified as too old at this point, I got a costume and ran around town with some of my friends to get some free candy! Probably something I shouldn't do anymore, but I believe in Tucker's ethics on the matter! I was Sam Manson complete with a homemade Fenton Bazooka, Fenton phones, a Fenton wrist ray, and a Fenton thermos! Yes I am geek.**

**Another cool thing, is that my friend's dad went to college with Butch Hartman! My friend might even get to meet Butch! How cool is that!?**

**And the answer to the trivia question was... North Mercy Hospital!**

**The winners are:**

**Pinklife**

**forever-stained-crimson**

**NerdyWriterGirl**

**PhantomPhan09**

**Ulimo**

**Great job to all who participated!**

**Ulimo answered my question of if you guys wanted Valerie with a yes, so you can expect her in the next chapter or two.**

**I'd like to thank all who reviewed/favorited/followed! You guys keep me motivated!**

**I'd also like to thank my amazing beta reader and bestie Pinklife! This story would be riddled with errors had it not been for her!**

**I don't really go into much angst or romance in this chapter, but don't forget about it just yet! I'm pretty sure another wave of it will come at this story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, but I do own my overactive imagination!**

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><p><strong>A New Ending <strong>

**Chapter 5: Always Against Me**

**Danny's POV**

I pushed through the door with my new-found strength, and walked into the kitchen where I found my parents and sister at the table, eating dinner. We all greeted, and my mom told me to take a seat. I complied, my plate already in front of me.

Everybody ate in silence, and I threw a few worried glances at my sister who looked back at me with reassurance. It was probably one of the most agonizing meals I had ever had with my family. My secret was so out there right now, that you'd have to be an idiot not to see that I was Phantom. Phantom and I had the same friends, the same first name (which I probably should have considered upon publication of me), a similar voice (minus the echo-y thingy in ghost mode), and even a similar appearance (if you put aside the ghostly features). If my life wasn't going to end when everyone found out, it sure was going to be a living hell. I'd probably be tested on, dissected even. I pretty much lost my appetite at this point and simply continued to stare at the plate full of food in front of me.

When everyone finished eating, my family silently cleared the table and continued to the living room where my mom spoke to us, "You are probably wondering why I asked you to come home early."

I just nodded, knowing that if I said anything, I might give something away...if I hadn't already. My parents might be a little absent-minded and slightly incompetent, but they weren't stupid. The correlation between me and my ghost half was undeniable. "Look, we know that you two have a connection with Phantom," my mom explained. Jazz and I did a double take and nodded at each other. "The GIW would like you two to talk to them tomorrow, in front of the press."

The press? Terror filled my features as I ran the sentence over again in my mind. Two? Wait a second...I was going to be talking to them, too? Oh crud...this isn't good...this isn't good at all. I'm swamped...I'm ruined. And I won't even have time to run. The GIW will be right there to take me into custody. Taking a deep breath, I shared a look with Jazz. She looked just as flipped as I did.

My gaze fell on my parents. "Umm," I began, a nervous laugh escaped my lips, "Why me? I mean, I don't really even know Phantom."

My parents looked at each other and then back at us. My dad spoke, "It's not that much of a stretch that you might know him, too, Danny-boy."

My mom continued, "Plus you might know how to catch him. A weakness, or even, his human-half."

My sister didn't even share a look with me. She just went right out and said in a calm voice that I probably wouldn't have been able to pull off, "Mom, Dad, you have to believe us. We have no idea who Phantom's human-half is. As far as we knew, he was just another ghost up till this point."

Our parents sighed. "Look, Danny, Jazz," my mom began, "we know that you are just trying to protect your friend, but we really need to know who he is. If the GIW find out first and get their hands on him, it could mean the end of him. No kid deserves that—even if he is half-ghost. Do you understand now?"

My eyes bugged. I wasn't even able to look at my sister even though I could feel her gaze on the side of my head. I was incapable of speech at this point so I just kept my mouth shut and closed my inflated eyes. A single tear almost escaped my eyes, but I quickly pushed it back in.

They accepted me, and they didn't even know it was me. This was the best news that I have heard all day-in the last two years even! Even though I could hear the hesitation in my mother's voice, I knew that they'd be willing to try to let me explain. They even wanted to help me. ME! I never, in a million years, thought that this was possible. "We just want to try to understand," my dad added in.

I was still incapable of speech and movement, and my sister had obviously picked up on that, and spoke, "It's Phantom's secret, he's the only one that can tell you guys." She paused and closed her eyes to avoid looking at me. "And we couldn't tell you anyways, like I said before, we don't know. We really don't know him all too well anyways-not even enough to call us friends." Even though Jazz's last comment kind of stung, I knew it was necessary.

We were all silent. I couldn't take this anymore. My parents couldn't know, even if their offer was sincere and very tempting. Even if they did think they could accept Phantom as a human kid, there was no way that kid could be me without them freaking and trying to fix me. But, I don't know how long I can keep up my dam of lies without having it break and the truth spilling out. It was the worst possible thing but I had to get out of here. "May I go to bed, please?"

My parents both replied immediately with confused, shocked expressions, and Jazz simply looked down with sad, but understanding smile. "Why are you already tired kiddo?" my dad asked me.

I was silent and simply mumbled, "Long day." I didn't wait for their responses and left the room. I could feel all their eyes on me as I stumbled up the stairs ungracefully and into my bedroom. I threw off my shoes and fell into bed. Strangely, sleep came easy for me. All I had to do was let my head hit the pillow. My sleep was calm and without dreams—probably the best thing to happen to me all day.

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><p>"Danny! Danny! Wake up!" my sister hollered down the hall. I looked at my sister standing in the doorway and then to my clock reading 8:15 AM with groggy eyes.<p>

"What's wrong!?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

Her voice got a little quieter, and she spoke, "Mom and Dad are going to turn the ghost defenses back on! We have to get you out of here!"

My eyes widened in alarm, and the sleepy feeling deserted me. "Stall them!" She ran downstairs, and I heard her drilling them with pointless questions as I speedily got dressed. Dressed, hair patted down, teeth brushed, and power bar in stomach, I ran down the stairs.

Jazz and my parents saw me reach the bottom of the stairs. My parents eyed us both quizzically. Jazz and I did a double take, using our 'sibling connection' Jazz got an excuse, "We don't want to be late for the conference!" We didn't even wait for their response and we ran out the door, hopped in her car, and drove off to face our doom.

When we were a few blocks away from our place, I sighed, "Thanks for the save Jazz."

"No problem, Danny. But, now we are going to have more of a challenge. Do you have any plan for the conference?" she inquired.

My body went rigid in my seat and I was only able to stare ahead of the car. "I-I have no idea what we are going to do...I suppose we should just lie. At this point, it's all we got left."

Jazz nodded at me and kept her eyes on the road. "You know, Danny, when I first found out about you, I thought...I didn't really know what to think. I was confused, but I knew that you were still my little brother."

"What are you getting at?" I asked her.

"The point is, is that our biggest enemy right now is confusion. If we can some how make people understand, then maybe we'll be able to earn they're trust. Do you know what I'm getting at?"

"Sort of," I answered, "I just don't understand why these people won't just leave me alone. I saved the world—more times than they know—and yet they keep trying to pry into my life. You'd think they'd be grateful enough to give me my space." By the end of my little speech, my voice had elevated, and my handswere thrown up in the air. Putting my hands at my sides and taking a deep breath, I looked at my sister expectantly.

Jazz sighed, her eyes still glued on the road. "Danny, it's human nature to be curious. You'd have to rewrite the human brain to get them to not." I gave her an objecting look, and she continued as we pulled into the parking lot of the school, her voice down to a whisper "I'm not saying it's fair, but...Phantom, is considered a hero in this town, and celebrities aren't left alone—especially ones with super powers."

I sighed in defeat. The time I was stuck in my ghost-half because of Amorpho was enough to prove her words true. If things went down wrong today, I could be stuck as Phantom forever. I nodded and got out of the car. I looked up at the school in confusion. Weren't we supposed to be at the conference? "Jazz? Aren't we supposed to be at that conference thing."

"Didn't I tell you? It's in the auditorium. Probably because they think yo-Phantom's in the audience and that they can trap him." she explained, she glanced around nervously, trying to see if anybody who noticed her partial slip. "Plus since they're only reason for doing this is catching Phantom, they only invitedall the local high schools and ghost hunters." Great all my human enemies in one place. Just what I was looking forward to.

Way to fast for my liking, we were prepped and backstage. From what I had been able to gather, all the students of Casper, and pretty much every major news station from around the globe, more ghost hunters than I could count (so much for just wanting to talk) and a crap-load of GIW against were crammed in our auditorium. Backstage, I felt that giving up feeling swell inside of me again. All I need to see were Sam and Tucker walking toward Jazz and I to kick it out of my system.

Tucker didn't even get close to us when he blurted, "They pulled you into this mess, too?"

Quickly covering his blurt, Sam spoke, "Yeah, you never even met Phantom? What's the deal?" She sent me a small smile, and I felt my cheeks go a light red as I smiled back.

"I'm not sure. I guess they wanted anyone who might have information on Phantom to come forward. That's all I can figure," I explained, shaking off my nervousness of being around Sam after what we did last night. I hoped to God that was the reason and that they didn't know my secret.

We all did this thing where we used our eyes to talk to each other. I guess when you go through as much stuff as the four of us did together, you can get that kind of discussion. Though I guess it's more of an understanding than a conversation, but still. "So, do any of you guys know where Phantom is?" Jazz asked, in a mock whisper, complying to our eye conversation. We all knew that we needed a good lie to work around, so what better way to do it when they think that we don't know that they're listening to us.

"I don't know," Tucker answered, "I haven't seen him since yesterday when he was exposed."

Sam brought the 'suspicious whisper' down to less than a murmur, "Can you guys believe that he's actually a halfa? I can't believe that." Even though her face was without emotion, I could see that playful, lively look in her eyes hidden under the seriousness. If I didn't know her so well, I probably wouldn't even see it.

"It's a real mind blower...then again, he is the secretive type," I murmured.

I'm pretty sure that everybody at this point was suppressing laughs under our masks of seriousness. Under the circumstances, we probably shouldn't be, but I don't think we have all gotten a good laugh since before Disasteroid Incident. In order to hide their laughs at my comment, they just nodded in agreement.

"Are you four ready to go on?" a brown-haired woman asked us. We all connected eyes, and then nodded a lie to her.

"Great!" she said overly cheerily—even Jazz seemed a little annoyed by the pep. She ushered us on to the set; I could feel the nervous butterflies flying around inside. This could very well be the last time I was even looked at just as Fenton.

The crowd's noise was deafening do to my super-hearing as we walked on to the stage. Just as I was about to put my hands over my ears, they must have noticed that we walked on the stage because everybody became quiet.

The news reporter, Shelly Makamunto, smiled at the camera and announced, "Welcome to News at nine on channel nine. Today, I am at Casper High in an attemptto unravel the identity of the ghost boy we all know, Danny Phantom." I lightly cringed at my alias's name because she said it in a tone as if my life were all rainbow's and butterflies. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? Was it too much to ask for a little privacy?

Makamunto continued to talk about how I was exposed yesterday, again, way to cheerilyfor my standards. You'd think that if you were about to ruin somebody's life—even ifthey weren't completely human—you'd at least have some sympathy. And of course, going with the story of my exposure, they made us sit through the video projection they got of me. Sam shot me a sympathetic lookand I simply threw my head in my hands.

When the painful clip was over, Makamunto looked over at us and spoke, "Here with me today are Phantom's known friends, Jasmine and Daniel Fenton, Tucker Foley, and Samantha Manson. (I'm pretty sure I saw Sam grip the sides on her chair when Makamunto said her full name.) I am going to interview them today to help us get a new insight on Danny Phantom. Now, how close are you four with Phantom? I know that Daniel isn't as close as you three are with him, but how close would you guys say your friendship with Phantom is?"

Like planned, none of us answered and silence fill the room. I threw a nervous glance at Jazz, but the girl seemed motivated in staying silent. Sam and Tucker had similar expressions. Straightening my seat, I changed my expression to a similar disposition.

Makamunto stared in horror at us for a few silent, stiff minutes until she questioned, "Well?" Like a cement wall none of us showed any emotion or answer to her question.

She took an irritated breath, but she soon spoke, "Well, maybe you'll answer another question." I was filled with renewed confidence as I thought, _'__Go ahead lady, we're ready for anything. Make my day.'_"Many people are wondering if any of you knew that Phantom was a halfa. Did any of you?"

_Wouldn't you like to know? _A smile graced my conscious mind but I showed nothing of it on my face. I could tell my friends and sister were thinking something similar by the look in their eye.

Makamunto huffed. "Another thing people are wondering is why one of you are sharing a name with him?"

I was barely able to stop my eyes from expanding in fear and my body becoming rigid. "Mr. Fenton, we are going to presume that you are a halfa if you don't tell us something. It's a logical explanation." The whole crowd gasped, and the room was tense.

Not missing a beat, Jazz started talking, "My brother, Phantom? You're kidding me right!?" She even added a laugh that we all joined in on. The crowd burst into laughter along with us, and, as far as I can tell, everybody had sense knocked into them at my sister's words...even if they were a little degrading. "We're the kids of ghost hunters, it's pretty impossible. My parents would have caught him already. As far as the name, well, you people started calling him Invisobill, so he had to think of something."

"Yeah," Tucker started, "Then, when he finally shouted out his name, even though his name is just Phantom, he added a first name so you people wouldn't think up something worse again." Many of the people responded to this with laughter. Even though it was a half truth, I was originally just going to call myself Phantom until Tucker pointed out that they might come up with something horrible again.

"But why Danny?" Makamunto urged.

"It was the first thing that came to his mind," Sam explained, "I'm pretty sure that Danny had just met Phantom at the time, so he just kind of shouted the name out."

Makamuto nodded, "Makes sense. Plus, nobody would believe that Phantom is that prepubescent." It took everything I had to not let my mouth gape open. The whole room roared with laughter. Good news, people didn't suspect me as Phantom, bad news I was still a wimp in everyone's eyes. I stared at her indignantly. That would probably be the only good thing about being completely exposed: not having to act like a wimp anymore.

"Moving on," Makamunto continued and all three of us put our masks of seriousness back on. "What is Phantom like? We know that he is kind of cocky, muscular, and from we can tell, very courageous. Anything you'd like to add?"

_Yes. What the hell is wrong with you!? First you pick on my maturity, and now your saying I'm cocky! Glad to know that you appreciate me. _I glanced at my friends, who I could tell were fighting amused expressions from appearing on their faces. If this wasn't a life or death thing right now, they'd probably be busting a gut from laughing.

After a long, amusing silence, Makamunto spoke again, "Though we can not force you to speak, you must know that if you don't cooperate, you'll be—"

Sam cut her of exclaiming, her voice coated in a nice thick layer of attitude, "There's nothing you can do to us. And, we're not going to tell you anything, because we don't know anything."

Makamuto looked taken aback. "Though you may be right on part of that statement, you do know a lot. We know for a fact that you, Mr. Foley, and Miss Fenton helped out with preparations for the Disasteroid incident. You are the only three he talked one-on-one to at all with. Even if you didn't know anything before that, you must know something now," she returned.

Ball in her court, Sam used a drop shot back at Makamunto, "We are just four impressionable, innocent teenagers, what could we possibly know?"

Makamunto was unable to return the drop shot and while a shocked expression covered her face, Sam kept a "imma cry 'cuz this lady bein' mean to me'" look. Very well played. Granted that made the score, us 1, the Feds, ...who knows...

If I didn't know better (and I don't) I'd have to say that Makamunto gritted her teeth. I had to fight a smile from forming on my face. "Moving on," she pursed her lips, "We are going to bring up the top three suspects for who believe could be Phantom." My eyes, along with my friend's bugged as we watched Dash, Kwan, and another popular jock walked on the stage in brightly glowing green chains. Their faces were the poster boys of misery, and their cadence was sluggish.

_This is all my fault, _I thought, _If it weren't for me, they wouldn't be in this kind of pain right now. Dammit. Why didn't I just say, "no!"_

Their sorrow filled expressions and depressed looks in their eyes made me want to turn myself in right now. They wouldn't be put through any pain, and my friends and sister wouldn't have to go through anymore of this crap. Just as I was about to stand up and end all of this, when I gagged on what I think was my ghost sense. I covered the icy blue mist with my arm, faking a cough.

It happened about seven more times, and my mind began going wild. Where's the ghost? How many are there? Where are they? How do I get out of here to fight them?

My blue eyes began darting around the room as I covered up about twelve more of them. Finally, the room lit up in an eerie green, and everybody began to notice what I had already sensed. The walls leaked a green and soon the screaming started. Chaos began, and my friends and I looked at each other and then back at the mess.

Since most of the ghost hunters were either getting the civilians out of the auditorium—or, as I suspected, running for their own lives—I took charge like usual. I shot a glance at my friends saying that we had to get somewhere else so I could change. We all shot out of our chairs just as the GIW grabbed us all. "Let us go!" I yelled.

"You four our are most reliable out looks right now, we won't let you go help Phantom who is probably causing this whole mess," the agent holding a struggling Sam bellowed.

I glanced over at Dash and the rest who were being rushed out of the building along with everyone else. The GIW people holding us rushed us out of the auditorium, keeping a firm grip that I could only get out of with intangibility. If I did that, I'd be left with two problems, one, I'd be exposed, and two, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz would still be in custody. Why does the government always have to be against me?

I struggled against the buff guard. I was going to have to get out of this like a kid. Somehow...

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><p><strong>Good? Bad? Ugly? I won't know unless you review. <strong>

**This issues trivia question is...**

**In what episode are we introduced to the Box Ghost?**

**I need the name of the episode, not a description.**

**Like usual, I don't know when I'll update.**

**~Pheek out**

**Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6: Getting Away?

**It's official, I can't stop myself from writing this story...It's a blast to write. I just hope you guys like to read it.**

**For people who are reading A Hopeless Cause, it will be updated this weekend. My beta reader assured me that she would get it to me by Sunday.**

**And the answer to the trivia question is... One of a Kind! The winners are:**

**Ulimo**

**LiMeADDeLOVES-life**

**Gammija**

**Pinklife**

**IAmTheDaydreamer**

**princessbinas**

**Great job to all!**

**I'd like to thank all who favorited/followed/reviewed. You guys are awesome.**

**I'd also like to thank my amazing beta reader, Pinklife, who I have been pestering all week to do this for putting up with me and being an awesome beta reader! XD**

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Danny Phantom...really...I know, it's pretty mind blowing, but it's the depressing true.**

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><p><strong>A New Ending<strong>

**Chapter 6: Getting Away?**

**Danny's POV**

_I struggled against the buff guard. I was going to have to get out of this like a kid. Somehow..._

I looked over at my friends and Jazz, squirming against the GIW agents just like I was. "Let us go!" I screamed as they chucked us into a van.

"Quit struggling. Not even your precious Phantom can save you now—this van is ghost proof," the guard informed us as they closed the doors.

_I really screwed up this time._ I thought as I looked at my friends who all held surprised expressions.

"You know," Sam began in an annoyed tone, "you'd think that they realize by now that we're the good guys, but no! They just keep doing the same damn thing!"

As my friends tried to pry the doors open and Tucker was trying to destroy any surveillance equipment, I simply sat there, trying to figure this out. "Dude!" Tucker exclaimed, "Aren't you gonna do something!?"

"Do what?!" Everybody looked at me in shock. "They finally got us! I don't know what to do! I can honestly say that! I'm pretty sure that as soon as we get to the Guys in White headquarters, an alarm is going to go off, and there going to find out everything! Don't you guys realize that!"

They all got quiet. Jazz then looked up at me, "That is just another reason for us to not give up. We've gone through worse! Why are you giving up now?"

"Worse?! What have we gone through that was possibly worse than this?!" I yelled.

"How bout the time Freakshow controlled you!? We were still able to get out of that one." Tucker reminded me.

"Or how bout the time Freakshow took over all reality and was about to kill all of us?! Everything ended fine then, too," Jazz pointed out.

"And should I remind you of the C.A.T.'s?" Sam questioned.

I looked down...that statement poured salt on my open wound. And it also made me realize that I couldn't give up.

"Danny, you—we have gone through countless ghost invasions, gotten attacked by freakin' evil plants, and even got out of a real Armageddon! If you haven't given up yet, then how can you possibly give up now?" Sam questioned.

I stood up. They were right. All of them were right. Just like that tear last night, everything made sense again. I felt determination enter my eyes, and I saw my friends smirk along with me. "Your right. Now, the Guys in White being the Guys in White, probably skimped on making this thing ghost proof. I'm betting the floor and ceiling are, but the floor probably..." I made my hand intangible and it easily slipped through.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sam smirked. I couldn't help but smile back. Like usual, we all connected, and I phased us through.

Our hopeful demeanor fell as we looked at the world around us. People everywhere were screaming. Buildings were on fire, and some just ceased to exist. "Maybe we should've stayed in the van," I heard Tucker murmur.

We ran to the side walk, and I quickly ducked into an alley where I switched to my ghost form and then flew back out to my friends. "What do we do?!" Tucker asked.

"We've got to find Plasmius," I spoke, "He's the cause of all this!"

"Okay, but how do we—" Tucker began.

"Watch out!" I heard an all too familiar voice yell. Looking around, I saw an ecto-blast from one of Walker's goons come our way. I quickly put up a shield around all of us, and shot an ecto-blast at said goon. Looking up, I saw a girl in red coming our way on a jet sled. "Valerie? What the heck are you doing here?"

"Uh, your welcome. And I could ask you the same question! You're the one causing this mess! Shouldn't you be off reeking more ghostly havoc?!" Her voice was coated in a thick layer of annoyance and hatred.

"Oh come on! You really believe I'm doing all of this?! Seriously!?" I shot an ecto-blast at a few ghosts and I watched as Valerie do the same.

"Well, that's what everybody else is saying!" She yelled back as she smacked the heads of two ghosts together.

We were back to back as I asked, "Well do _you_ think I'm the one doing this?"

"No," she whispered. And then we both shot more enemy ghosts.

"Good, then we're on the same page for once," I smirked, and then shot some ghostly ice at another.

"Well then who is causing all of this?" she asked me.

"Who do you think?" I inquired, with an annoyed tone.

"Plasmius," her voice was coated with venom, and I nodded back. "Damn, that guy doesn't know when to give up."

"You have no idea," I replied.

"HEY!" I heard Tucker yell to us. "Mind letting us in on some of the action?"

"What are they doing here?!" Valerie questioned, betrayal in her eyes.

"The press did get one thing right, they are my friends." Her eyes widened in shock and we both floated to the ground, and then into the alley.

"Wait a minute, you told them about me?!" she pointed an annoyed finger at my face.

"Actually, Valerie, we figured it out on our own, it's pretty obvious," Sam deadpanned. Valerie growled at the girl, and I jumped in and broke it up.

"We don't need to fight! We're on the same side here!" I exclaimed.

Valerie still scowled at Sam, but seemed to understand. "Wait a minute, where's Fenton?"

Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and I all connected eyes, and Jazz quickly spoke, "He got out of here as soon as Phantom saved us from the Guys in White."

"You know Danny, he isn't really the violent type. Easy to scare, you know?" Tucker added in. If my secret weren't in jeopardy, I'd probably slap him.

She gave us a suspicious look, and then spoke, as explosions happened all around us, "As much as it pains me to say this, truce, Phantom?" She put her hand out expectantly.

With slight hesitation, I shook her hand. "Truce." I looked around, the people began deserting the streets, obviously heading toward the bunkers. They'd been built right after the Pariah incident. "We need to make a plan," I suggested as I looked out at the street and saw guard beginning to line the streets.

The rest followed my gaze; they soon nodded. "We'll go to my house," Sam spoke.

"You're kidding, right?" Valerie almost laughed, "As soon as those idiots in White realize that you guys escaped, that is the first place they are going to look."

It looked as if Sam was about to claw Valerie's eyes out, when Jazz spoke, obviously trying to help bring back a 'lighter' mood. "Well, then we can't go to Tucker's and obviously not mine..."

We all looked at Valerie. "Oh you can't be serious. Truce or not, Phantom, that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you into my house." We all stared at her expectantly. She sighed irritatedly. "Fine. Jazz, on the board with me. Phantom, you get Sam and Tucker. Make sure you stay invisible. I don't need any of my other enemies knowing where I live."

I picked up Tucker and Sam, quickly turning us invisible. I watched as Valerie and Jazz slipped into cloaking, it was the human version of invisibility. It didn't work nearly as well as a ghost's, and every now and then, you could see a ripple of reality go over them.

We took off, and I followed Valerie's voice, acting as if I needed it. I knew exactly where she lived, simply because I had to do that stupid school project with her. We were blocks away when I heard two voices yell up to us. "Did you see that ripple! It's a ghost!" I heard Valerie gasp, but it was too late, they shot up at her, and they began falling to the ground.

"No!" I screamed, and lost invisibility to catch them. I stopped their descent right before they hit the ground; we all tumbled to the ground.

I looked up to see a charged ecto-gun at the hand of two Guys in White agents. "We got you now ghost boy."

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><p><strong>Good? Bad? Ugly? I won't know unless you review.<strong>

**And this issues trivia question is...**

**In which episode does Danny find the Infa-map?**

**I know, its hard. *sarcasm* I need a name, not a description.**

**I should be updating before the end of December...but I love this story so much that is might be sooner.**

**Please reveiw.**

**~Pheek out**


	7. Chapter 7: Trying to Understand

**I'm back! I know it's been awhile, but here I am. And it feels so good to be back!**

**Since it has been so long, here's a summary of what's happened so far:** This is after an AU PP where Danny never exposed himself. Vlad comes back to earth and exposes Phantom as a halfa resulting in mass chaos of people wanting to know who his human half is. The world knows that Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are friends with Phantom, which leads them to think that Danny is also friends with Phantom...err...himself. A ghost invasion starts, and Danny blames Plasmius. Still stuck at the conference he can't do anything without exposing himself. The Guys in White escort them out and once in the van on the way to the GiW headquarters, they escape. They meet up with Valerie who agrees to a truce before getting caught by the GiW as they make a get away to her house. Chapter seven ended with Danny at gun point.

**The answer to the trivia question is... Infinite Realms! And the winners are...**

**SamXDanny**

**just-phasing-through**

**NoLongerInUse5**

**Ulimo**

**kings119**

**Chad's Shortstack**

**Diana Lily**

**Thanks to all those who read, review, favorite and followed! You guys keep me writing!**

**Disclaimer: For some reason, I don't own Danny Phantom...that makes me sad.**

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><p><strong>A New Ending<strong>

**Chapter 8: Trying to Understand**

**Danny's POV **

_I looked up to see a charged ecto-gun at the hand of two Guys in Whit agents. "We got you now, ghost boy."_

_Well...this is bad. _My eyes danced over the charged blasters up to the faces of two GIW agents.

_No reason to panic, like my friends said, we've been through worse. _"Now, we can talk about this, there's no reason to pull a gun out..."

"Silence, ghost kid."

"You're coming with us."

I cringed and glanced back at my friends who were all stretched out on the ground in shock. When I pictured the end...it never went like this. More of a long struggle, some banter, maybe some soda and chips...

I shook my head. This was serious. Idiots or not, the Guys in White did have the upper hand. _Okay, Fenton, think. Emergency situation. What to do first..._

BAM! A blast hit the first agent from behind, and the remaining agent looked around widely, waving his gun, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" Boy, his finger was close to that trigger...

"It wasn't me!" I protested. And that's when I saw it, after all, how could anyone miss two jumpsuits that could out glow the sun.

Getting shot not being high on my list, I remained still under the remaining agent's gun as he glared at my parents. "The situation was under control. This is out of your jurisdiction. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me for breaching Agent K's behind sector A."

Though the monotone speech was concise and to the point, a few different reactions came out of the mess: 1. I laid on the ground emotionless due the fact that a. I still had a gun pointed at me via Agent O and b. my parents were there, and they didn't need any other clues to who the ghost kid was. 2. My friends, sister, and Valerie had looks of...actually I can't see their reaction, they're behind me. 3. My dad stood planted with a perplexed looked on his face, either due to the big words in Agent O's speech or he really had to go. And 4. My mom looked as though she were ready to kill someone.

"I DON'T HAVE JURISDICTION!" I'd never seen my mom so mad. "Excuse me, but page two hundred of sub-chapter twelve paragraph fifty-four C of the Anti Ghost Code dictates that if said ghost in question is somehow tied to the well fare of a human, military action is not to be taken! If so, another ghost hunting agency in authority is to step in immediately!"

His gun wavered in thought and pointed more at my torso. "Yes, but if you take into consideration page 23—"

"Irrelevant!" I heard Sam yell, "Phantom has not kidnapped himself! He is a halfa, which should be treated under page four hundred of chapter thirteen sub-paragraph twenty-four C!"

Then, the agent did something completely out of character, "I DON'T CARE! THIS GHOST IS A MENACE TO SOCIETY AND TODAY HE WILL BE DESTROYED!"

The events that followed flowed into my vision in slow motion. I heard my friends scream and the agent's gun fire. At some point I looked back at my friends to see horrified faces, and Valerie gone. Next, pain.

"AH!" I yelled and gripped my shoulder. In the fuzz caused by the overwhelming hurt, I saw my parents come over and take down the agent. I tried to clear my mind enough to fly away when my friends ran over. It wasn't successful, all I managed to do was back up a bit. I heard my name—not Phantom, but Danny—screamed out by them.

The last thing I saw was my parents overhead, pushing my friends out of the way. I'm pretty sure my dad picked me up just as the green and black dots overtook my vision.

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><p>"Phantom?" a voice asked, "Are you awake?"<p>

I tried to squirm away with a scream but quickly found myself restrained by whatever table I was on. Oh God. A table. Metal. A Lab Table. My surroundings flooded in quicker than I would have liked. The lab, my parents above me with my mom talked soothingly to me. Yeah, really soothing when you're strapped to a frickn' lab table.

I screamed, "LET-me-go!" And squirmed with all my might, if I could break the holders around my arms, then I could use a blast to free my legs. My plan was interrupted by a spike of pain in the shoulder. Oh yeah. I was shot.

Holy shit! I was shot! I had to get out of here! My parents! They wouldn't stop til they found out who I was! Even if I asked for them not to, their curiosity exceeded no boundaries. I screamed again and a blast of cold shot out of me that my parents deflected with the help of Specter Deflectors and their has-mat suits. I pulled reflexively again on the restraints, and in their frozen, weakened state, they snapped.

I wasted no time to jump into the air, but as quickly as I went up, I fell. "Ah!" Backing up against the wall, I clenched my shoulder. My mind began looking for a exit. Stairs or portal? Stairs or portal! My parents were in between me and that said portal (not to mention it was also closed) so stairs it was. I began to etch my way over there.

"Phantom!" My mom yelled and came running over.

"Stay back!" I responded, holding my good arm up at her. She stopped in her tracks with a confused and slightly terrified look on her face. Great, they were afraid of me...but that's what I needed. They wouldn't expect their 'baby boy' to scare them. I tried to stand, but it was to no avail.

My shoulder throbbed. I stole a glance. It was stitched up? I looked from the wound to my parents with distrust. They'd been saying they wanted to help Phantom—me—lately but I never chose to believe them. Yet here I sat, against the Lab wall looking from wound to the people who raised me. Did they...know?

No. They were still calling me Phantom, and not to mention by some miracle I hadn't changed back. Why would they help me? Halfa or not, I was still a ghost in their eyes. Plus, besides me, Vlad's the only other they've seen to represent our...kind. At dinner last night they explained that they accepted Phantom as a halfa, without even knowing who I was. I guess be strapped to a lab table by the very people that 'accepted' you kind of took away the warm feeling they tried giving off.

The initial panic started to wear off and I looked around the ice covered room. I might have overreacted a little bit—but in my defense, you try being hooked up to Lab table and waking up to your parents over you. _Relax, Fenton, they're helping you. _"Why-did-you?" I slurred.

"We're not going to hurt you, Phantom. We promise, right, Jack?" my mom said. Dad hesitantly nodded, this must be difficult for him. First his best friend then the ghost he's devoted the last few years of his life to hunting. His world's turning up side down. Everything's so screwed up...they weren't supposed to know this much.

"Why?"

"You're a kid under there...we don't know how it works, but your still human."

"That's never stopped you before," I scoffed, biting my teeth at the pain my shoulder was inflicting on me.

"We didn't know ghosts could be human," my mom said.

"That's the way it's always been," my father added, sitting down on a frozen chair.

Silence followed and I tried to stand again, but I felt dizzy as I accomplished this goal and I fell again. "You lost a lot of ectoplasm. If you let us help you—" my mother urged walking toward me.

"No," I interrupted, holding my good hand up again, "I can do it myself." She gave me a look of irritation, the same one Jazz often sent me when I was being stubborn. Jazz! "Where are my friends?" I blurted out mid attempt.

"Upstairs, we didn't let them come down here," my mom answered. I would have asked why, but my father seemed to sense my question before it was even asked.

"They were panicking, and Mads and I had patch up your wound." The large man stared at me. There was uncertainty written all over his face, but he at least he was trying. A year ago, if I were in this position, I'd already be dead.

"We can bring you to them if you let us help you," my mom suggested. I saw what she was trying to do, but...that wasn't happening. They can't touch me, not with Specter Deflectors on for that matter. "We want you to trust us."

"If I'm supposed to trust you, why don't you trust me?" They sent me a look of confusion. "Your Specter Deflectors." They looked down as their waists, mentally smacking themselves. Mom began to take hers off and Dad followed in suit.

"We were afraid you might do something on accident, like the ice blast you sent out. I didn't even know ghosts, besides the specialists for that matter, could have power over something like that," my mom mused.

_More information leaked out about me...and again my fault...great. _"Sorry about that," I mumbled as I got to a successful stand/lean against the wall.

There was an awkward silence where all of us tried not to make eye contact. After long enough to make us all uncomfortable, Mom said, "Phantom, your parents are probably worried sick about you if you just tell us, we could take you—"

"No! That's out of the question! Completely out of the question!" I began to edge toward the door. "Nobody can know, understand? Not you two, not anyone!" I got to the stairs and that's when my plan took a dive, literally, I fell backwards without the wall for support.

I began to make my way back to a stand and they came running over, as if to help me up. I held up my good hand again, warning them to back up. Honestly, I didn't know what to do if they didn't.

My plan worked and they both backed off, letting me struggle backwards up the stairs to keep my eye on them. Patching my shoulder up or not, they were ghost hunters. They'd always be my parents, and I'd always love them, but they were ghost hunters. I'm a ghost. That's a fact, well half ghost, but still.

Been through worse, my ass. Give me Undergrowth any day of the week, at least him I could beat up and get out some pent up anger. My parents, on the other hand, well, really can't fight them to fix the problem.

It was at this point I heard my mom's faint gasp—if I didn't have super hearing, then I wouldn't have. "Your parents don't know?" she realized faintly.

I froze where I leaned before turning away to not see their expressions. "No." I don't know why I answered. Perhaps it was just a moment of weakness, I don't know. "They...wouldn't understand." I reached up and touched the wound that the very people who didn't understand had just patched up.

"But their your parents," my dad stated innocently.

I just stood there. I don't think I could bear the expressions on their faces as just one more part of my secret poured into their laps. How was everything falling apart so quickly? "So?" I asked.

"They love you," he answered.

"They..." How could I put this that wouldn't totally give me away? I knew I should have just walked away, but...they were my parents. Not that I wanted them to know the truth, that, as I said earlier, was completely out of the question. They got irrational with new information. But haven't I always wanted them on my side? To trust me; both of me?

That was before, though. Now this secret meant life, truth meant death. I ran my hand over my wound, my healing powers were already doing a number on it: the skin was almost closed up. The stitches had sped up the process—I'd have to file that one away for later. That didn't help with the wooziness though or the pain of having your skin stretch itself back over that said wound. But, regardless, if it weren't for my parents, this wound might have taken me out of order for a night. Why did they help me? Why did they want to help me? It was so...out of character for them.

"It doesn't matter," I murmured before hobbling up the stairs to find my friends and get away from my parents. Because, whether I liked to believe it or not, they were the greater enemy.

"Wait! Phantom!" I turned to see my mother yelling. "The defenses are still up, if you go out there without us you'll be shot."

_You've got to be kidding me._ "Fine." My mom brushed past me and opened the door. My dad, who was behind me, held it open for the both of us. Needless to say as soon as my mom disable the guns with a vocal command when they came down, I moved away from them.

"PHANTOM!" the scream nearly through me for a loop. The next thing I knew, Jazz was hugging me, Sam and Tucker were standing awkwardly off to the side with content smiles knowing I was okay, and my parents seemed more confused than they were downstairs. When Jazz let go, she realized the error of her ways—showing that much 'affection' was suspicious. She obviously didn't care any more. I guess seeing your little brother get shot point blank could do that to a person.

I knew my friends wanted me to reassure them I was okay, but all I wanted to do was leave. My secret was in jeopardy as it was. Then, hey! Let's add your son's best friends and sister being best friends with Phantom, a halfa. Oo! And they both have the first name of Danny! They look about the same, are the same age, when one's around the other one isn't... Oh shit. They were going to wonder where Fenton-me was. Dammit! If I could get of here, then it'd be as simple as showing up at the door, saying I'd been attacked by ghosts.

Stepping slowly with the help of Jazz and Sam they lead me to the living room. "Guys I have to get out of here. They're going to wonder where Danny Fenton is," I whispered.

Sam smiled, "Already taken care of."

That's when I heard the voice of something I hadn't heard since the disastroid incident. Tuck-bot dressed up like me, boy my parents could be so easily fooled. "Is Phantom here?" the mechanical voice asked.

My parents looked at the bot and ran over to it, asking it where he—I—was. Jazz quickly cut in, saying, "He's just been tired lately, right Danny? In bed, like always!" My parents smiled at how 'normal' their son was even during this stressful situation. When my parents turned back towards Sam, Tucker, and I, I heard Jazz whisper the order, "Go to bed."

The machine made a fake yawn-like noise and announced he was going to bed. My mom nodded at him as he walked upstairs. Obviously glad that at least that was normal. _She has no idea. _I guess if someone really doesn't want to believe, even if the truth was right in front of them, it wouldn't be enough.

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. It was one big awkward gathering filled with mental pain from stress and physical from my healing shoulder. The feeling of fleeing had never been so prominent. "I'm...um...I'm just going to go." I backed my way up to the door. The wooziness that prevented me from walking was beginning to subside, and I was confident I'd be able to fly now. All I had to do was get out the door, and I'd be gone to stop Plasmius...again.

When I cracked open the door to peak, what I saw was not expected: there were no ghosts in sight and yet my ghost sense went off. Just people behind a ghost shield covering the house. So many people. They all began yelling when they saw the door opening and I quickly closed and locked it when they came running. "Shit," I murmured. That explained why the blinds were closed.

I ran my good arm's hand over my face and leaned against the door. Problem with being a hero: everyone looked to you for advice...I just wanted to fight ghosts and fix problems, not lead people.

Wait. Those people where behind the shield. I stuck my head through the door invisibly, which confirmed my suspicion. "They're all overshadowed," I said when I came back through. My friends nodded, obviously already knowing that.

"That's why the agent shot you: he was overshadowed," Jazz explained.

Sam snickered, "No Guys in White agent could not follow the rules—it's not in their programing. That was our first clue, then you know, when your entire town start chasing you down, it just might mean something."

"So you guys put up the shield to keep them from getting in," I guessed and they nodded.

"If you could not pass out the next time a hoard of possessed people comes, that'd be great," Tucker poked.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," I replied. It was at this point I caught my parents watching our interactions in disbelief. I froze and instantly shut up, looking down at the ground. My friends and Jazz got the same message and didn't move a muscle.

"You are all really friends," my mom stated. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them smile weakly, but chose to remain with out comment.

Dad took a seat at the kitchen table and my mom leaned on the same said table. None of them said anything, after all, avoiding Mom and Dad was one of the rules. Yet here I stood. In the same room as my parents in my ghost form, talking. Could this get any weirder?

When the tensions began filling the room, I left to peak out the window. I could feel my parent's eyes on me which I did my best to ignore. The people just stood their, like a mass of zombies, ready to attack whenever they saw human—or halfa—hide. _Great. _

But that didn't top off my struggles. Since the ghost shield was up, that meant I wasn't leaving here unless I was Fenton, and I couldn't change into Fenton with my parents here without compromising my secret. Hiding when I changed wouldn't help any—it'd just confirm that somebody in the house was a halfa. And right now, there was only one person not accounted for. Me. _Dammit._

There had to be another exit. I had to get through the ghost portal, but that still left the house without a real Fenton—I highly doubted my parent's cluelessness could not figure out that that machine wasn't me for a long period of time. Not to mention, with an invasion going on, going to the ghost zone would leave the human world open to attacks. _Dammit! _I can't just let my parents figure me out, but leaving Earth open to this attack was out of the question.

"You're not going to answer any of our questions are you?" I heard my mother ask. I turned to seem Sam and Tucker adverting eye contact, and Jazz trying to look as neutral as possible. I turned to face them. "Will you, Phantom?"

I couldn't hide from this anymore. I'm not going to tell them, but I did need their help. If I were going to get out this, secret in tact, I needed them to trust Phantom-me. Jazz was right last night when she said confusion was our worst enemy. "Well..." My friends looked at me like I was crazy. "That just depends on the question."

I closed my eyes, waiting, just waiting. All I got was silence. I sighed, "I...I just want to be left alone. That's all I want from people. But right now, I need your help to stop this invasion." I opened my eyes to see my parents staring at me and I shrunk back into my shell, "If...you're willing to work with a halfa..." I stood, they were still silent, shocked by my sudden openness, "Truce?" I stretched out my hand to them.

My father stood up and walked over to me, swallowed his pride, and said, "Truce." We shook hands. In that moment, I felt like my life was ending. Every wall I tried so hard to build up fell down, and every fib made died off. I also felt opportunity. The anonymity of being Phantom just might give my parents the push to understand that not all ghosts were evil.

I could only hope that the future that followed would be a good one.

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><p><strong>Good? Bad? Ugly? I won't know unless you review.<strong>

**It's closing in on summer, so updates should be more frequent-this time I can promise that! This story is so fun to write...**

**Now the only reason most of you read my ANs...The Trivia question!**

Does Danny say, "Get the kitty, get him!" to Cujo, Wulf, some other random animalistic ghost, or a regular dog?

**A multiple choice question...is that what I'm reduced to now? Totally not obsessed with finals right now...that can't possibly be the reason...**

**Please review.**

**~Pheek out**


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